Facebook proposes to end voting on privacy issues

Facebook is proposing to end its practice of letting users vote on changes to its privacy policies. The company says it will continue to let users comment on proposed updates.

The world's biggest social media company plans to announce Wednesday that its voting mechanism, which is triggered only if enough people comment on proposed changes, has become a system that emphasizes the quantity of responses over the quality of discussion.

Facebook began letting users vote on privacy changes in 2009. Since then, it has gone public and its user base has ballooned from around 200 million to more than 1 billion.

As part of the 2009 policy, users' votes only count if more than 30 percent of all Facebook's active users partake.

Facebook's most annoying changes

Facebook's most annoying changes

Facebook has ticked off its users again, this time with the announcement that mobile users who want to message friends will have to download its Messenger app in addition to the core Facebook app. There have been a lot of changes to the world's largest social network in recent years. Here are some of the most annoying:

The News Feed -- Facebook unveiled the News Feed in 2006 as a way to view the activities of your friends. Many users wanted out, although Facebook pacified them with new privacy features to control what is displayed.

The New Facebook -- In late 2008, Facebook permanently moved users to a complete layout redesign it called "Facebook 3.0." Several groups formed to protest the decision.

Public Friends Lists -- As part of the much-maligned privacy changes in 2009, Facebook made the friends lists of all users public, sparking such an outcry that the site quickly reinstated the option to keep the lists private.

Terms Of Use Changes -- In February 2009, Facebook made unannounced changes to its terms of use giving it the rights to a user's content even after it's been deleted. Outrage ensued, and Facebook soon returned to its original terms of use.

News Feed Redesign -- In October 2009, Facebook revamped the News Feed to include more of your friends' activities. But users couldn't select what they saw, and many didn't like the amount of information coming at them.

News Ticker -- As part of sweeping changes rolled out in September 2011, a real-time news ticker was added to the right side of the homepage, letting you know what your friends were posting and commenting on as it happened. Some thought it too busy, and you now have the option to hide the ticker.

Top Stories vs. Recent Stories -- More changes to the News Feed introduced a focus on "top stories" rather than recent items. Users who don't visit much will only see top stories, while frequent visitors get the option to expand to recent posts.

Subscribe Button -- This feature allows users to subscribe to other users’ news feeds without friending them, much like Twitter. Some users didn't like the idea of people they didn't know following them.

Timeline -- Perhaps one of the most controversial changes to date is Facebook's Timeline, a profile page change initially rolled out as an option but that has now become mandatory.

Facebook.com Email -- Facebook has offered its own email address for a while now, but users were irked in June 2012 when the site replaced the email addresses they chose to list on their profile page with the facebook.com address.

Video Ads - In December 2013, Facebook rolled out a feature that will allow advertisers to play videos in users' news feeds. The feature offers companies a new way to promote movies and products on smartphones and computers, and is being tested with a small group of Facebook users.

Nearby Friends -- In April 2014, Facebook introduced a mobile feature called Nearby Friends that taps into that steady stream of location information so friends can track each other in real time. Although it's not turned on by default, some users aren't thrilled by the idea. It's also raising hackles with some privacy advocates.

"Ask" Feature -- In May 2014, Facebook unveiled its new "Ask" feature, which lets your friends inquire about your relationship status if none is listed. Needless to say, it drew some eye rolls from many social media users -- particularly the single ones.

Slingshot -- In June 2014, Facebook launched a Snapchat-like mobile app that lets users trade ephemeral photo- and video-based messages that disappear after a few seconds. But what's unique (and annoying) about Slingshot is that you can't view an incoming message until you respond with a photo or video of your own, meaning there can be no passive users.

Messenger App -- In July 2014, Facebook announced that mobile users who want to message friends will have to download its Messenger app, eliminating the ability to send messages through its core Facebook app and forcing users to download another app.

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